As some readers may be aware, I have my own page on Facebook (search ‘Ian Hughes MA’) where I post titbits of information from time to time.  I’ve just realised (I’m not the brightest!) that I posted the result of my last PSA test there but have made no mention of it here.  I apologise.

As many regular visitors may know, at Christmas 2013 I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. In mid-September I received the result of the latest test. Great news: another all clear!! To make this even better news: I now only need to be tested once per year! Happy Days!!

To say that I am happy and relieved is to miss the point.  It is now four-and-a-half years since I underwent surgery.  Despite the fact that as time goes by a patient may be supposed to feel more confident in the test outcome, in my case at least that has not been the case.  I still become extremely nervous every time I have a test.  Maybe it is because of my own pessimism that I half expect bad news every time I ring for the result.

Whether other ‘survivors’ go through the same feelings or whether they become ‘complacent’ or ‘trusting’ very quickly I don’t know.  All I know is that every time I get the result I have felt a huge relief when it has come back ‘all clear’.  That is one of the reasons why this result is special:  I now only have to go through the stress of the blood test and the waiting once a year, rather then every three or six months.  My next target is to get to the point where it is once every three years.  Wish me luck!!